The state’s new foreclosure loan program for unemployed workers just strengthened its statewide reach.

The N.C. Housing Finance Agency this month has added 13 HUD-approved counseling agencies to the N.C. Foreclosure Prevention Fund™, increasing the number of agencies where homeowners can apply to 37. The program began offering mortgage payment assistance December 1 in all 100 counties.

The new partners are located in Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Greenville, Kill Devil Hills, Monroe, Raeford, Raleigh, Rowland, and Wilmington. Together, they strengthen the program in 47 counties. [Editor: new agencies Are listed at the end of release. To Find all the agencies serving your area, go to www.ncforeclosureprevention.gov/map_contact_counselor.aspx.

“More than 300 homeowners have already been approved for mortgage payment assistance under the N.C. Foreclosure Prevention Fund,” said A. Robert Kucab, executive director of the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, the self-supporting state agency that designed and manages the effort. “More than 2,000 applications are in process.”

“The goal is to help responsible North Carolina homeowners, who have lost their job or experienced a temporary hardship through no fault of their own, to protect their homes from foreclosure while they seek new employment,” Kucab said, “Every foreclosure we can prevent helps the state’s economic recovery by protecting property values and the local tax base.”

The N.C. Foreclosure Prevention Fund™ makes mortgage payments for qualified unemployed workers while they seek jobs or complete job training in a new field. Others, who have gotten behind on their mortgage payments because of divorce, illness or other temporary hardship, may qualify for help while they seek jobs to get back on their feet. The program is expected to be available over the next three to five years.

The assistance is provided as a zero-interest, deferred loan of up to $24,000 or 24 months of mortgage-related payments. In high unemployment counties, the maximum assistance is $36,000 or 36 months. [Editor: See www.ncforeclosureprevention.gov/map_50_hardest_hit.aspx] To be eligible, homeowners must have a good mortgage payment history prior to the job loss or hardship, be able to resume their mortgage payments once assistance ends, and meet other program guidelines. If the owner continues to live in the home for 10 years, the loan will be considered satisfied and no repayment will be due.

For more information about their eligibility, homeowners should call a participating counseling agency or the information line, 1-888-623-8631, or go to www.ncforeclosureprevention.gov.

The N.C. Foreclosure Prevention Fund™ is financed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund™, which was authorized under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. It is available in 18 states and the District of Columbia, which have experienced high unemployment or a steep decline in property values. North Carolina was selected because of the large percentage of the population living in counties with high unemployment rates in 2009.

The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency is a self-supporting public agency. It has financed 201,000 homes and apartments in the last three decades, including 84,000 homes for first-time home buyers.